Saturday, February 12, 2011

An Episode of "I Shouldn't Be Alive"

Yesterday was a terribly, tragic, torrent of troubles. Say that ten times fast. I felt like I was on an episode of Animal Rescue (you can read about yesterday's episode here). But today felt like an episode of Discovery Channel's show "I Shouldn't Be Alive". Seriously. I crashed last night at about 11:00 after a rice bowl, a hot shower and starting a fire. I woke up two hours later to a horrible acrid smell. I lay there wondering what it could be. When it dawned on me what it was my heart leapt and I jumped out of bed and ran to the fireplace. It registered a dangerous 750 degrees. We try to keep it below 400. Above 600 you run the risk of fire. What I was smelling were the walls melting. Again. This smell I knew. I closed the dampers and turned the fan directly on it on the high setting and waited to see if it would work. I checked the walls and they were too hot to touch. The temperature gauge slowly began dipping below 700, then 650, then 600 and finally got below 500. I opened one of the dampers back up to see if it would stay low. It did. I returned to bed with my heart still thumping hard. I woke up around 3:00 and 5:00 to check it again. Luckily, it slowly began to cool and by 5:00 was completely out. So scary.

Although exhausted, my alarm woke me up to go do morning chores by 6:30. I felt fear and dread (and cold) this morning. I didn't know what my future would hold but I was pretty sure it wouldn't be good. Before my feet hit the floor I read my Bible and cried out to the Lord. I had nowhere else to go. I begged for forgiveness for my arrogance, pride, anger, haughty words and unkind thoughts towards GA; especially for the previous days since we had words over the horses and fences. I asked Him for his guidance, mercy, grace, energy and strength for what had to be done today, help for the trouble, provision and protection. I'm glad I did. I needed every bit of it. I climbed out of bed and got dressed, pulled my coveralls and mucking boots on. I found my hat and gloves and jumped into the Jeep. I knew MacGyver hadn't finished clearing the road between our houses so I went out to the main road and up the front way to GA's house. I set the four-wheel drive. I got about 300 feet up and found a patch of ice. I lost all my momentum and my tires began to spin. I slightly backed up and then tried it again. I did this several times until I realized I couldn't even rock it out. There was just too much ice. I started to back down the mountain when my tires locked up on the ice and I started sliding backwards. I knew I was either going to slide right off the side of the mountain or bank it hard to the right and slide into the two foot wall of snow and stick my tires. I chose the latter. I was a little freaked out over the sudden stop on the opposite side of the road. At least I was out of the way if someone came down the road. I walked the half mile up to GA's. I was happy to see that all was well. Sharif had a small tear on his shoulder but didn't need stitches. I was going to have to figure out how to get everybody water since the pump seemed to be frozen. It seemed the day was going to be even more challenging than the previous. It all seemed to be too much. I fed all the horses and started back down toward the cabin. I couldn't shake the feeling that something was following me. I kept stopping suddenly and looking back over my shoulder, not really wanting to look, but not daring to not look. Don't you just hate that? I made it home without being eaten by anything. The kiddos were up by that point and we got breakfast. The vet called to update me on Amar. It seemed he was fine and could go home anytime. Oh! The relief. God had heard my prayers and Amar was completely fine. The kiddos and I gave thanks for that! MacGyver arrived home after his shift after stopping first to get some more diesel for the Bobcat. Good man. It seems we needed the Bobcat more and more as the hours ticked by. I told him more about my night, suddenly more aware of  the dangerous possiblities of what could have happened with the fireplace. I told him about my morning. I found myself in tears and he wrapped his arms around me. He didn't have to say anything. I was just so relieved he was home and would share the burden. I shared with him my four acute problems that needed to be addressed:

1. The Jeep was hopelessly stuck but I was alive.
2. We needed to dig the horse trailer out so we could go get Amar.
3. The horses needed water and the pump was frozen.
4. The fence needed to be repaired so Amar and Sharif could be returned safely and without any more incidences.

He decided to work on clearing the road, digging out the trailer from its three feet of snow, and then rescue the Jeep. I decided the kiddos and I were going to work on the fence. After breakfast, we all donned our
Carharts, grabbed the chainsaw and got busy. Ike and I felled our first tree(s) today. We dropped about a dozen 20'-30' trees between us. I was so proud of him, and he of himself. Izzy helped us move and lift the trees into place and then haul off the limbs. We all four worked most of the morning and into the afternoon on our individual tasks and made some good headway. By 2:00 the pumps were thawed and I was able to water the horses while Mac chained up the truck. We were able to haul the trailer down the crazy snow-packed road beautifully since MacGyver had cleared the bulk of it out of the way. The truck pulled the trailer nicely and I called the ER Clinic to let them know we were on our way. Our day was uber-productive and the only thing ahead of us would be getting the trailer back up the mountain, Amar unloaded and he and Sharif back into their pasture. However, once we got to the clinic, the front office ladies informed us that GA had, in fact, contacted them just before we got there. It seems God answers prayers, people. GA had decided to leave Amar at the clinic until he returned next week and have him gelded. GELDED! Wonders never cease. This is the very argument we have been having. I argued that no fence can truly contain a stallion trying to get to a mare in heat. He argued that the fence is weak and it is our fault he keeps getting out. I argued that a standing fence doesn't need to be fixed and the snow is so thick he just steps over it in places. He argued that he hasn't had that kind of problem in the past. I'll refrain from going on. Suffice it to say, we've been going around and around on this issue for over a week now; him blaming me, me pointing to the problem of a stallion and his insane levels of testerone. Even the vet agreed with me. It seemed it took something of this measure to get his attention and agree that something needed to change before something worse happened. I haven't talked to him and probably won't until he gets back next week. I have a feeling he is pretty hot, though. I choose to trust God in this, as well. I've done everything to the best of my ability with the limited resources GA has provided. The rest is in God's hands. MacGyver and I had a laugh (more out of relief) that this is truly an answer to prayer. I was so thankful that God heard me, that Amar is safe and sound, that we were all still alive, and that I am never alone. He is my ever help in times of trouble. And for that, who could ask for more? MacGyver still has some acute stress and strife he is having to deal with at work. We're not sure how that will all turn out, but we know God has heard our prayers and has a plan and purpose for our lives. What we do in the meantime is seek Him daily, constantly and desperately. He hears our cries and turns His ear to us. He gave us a beautiful, sunny day to work and we have a whole day of fence building tomorrow. I believe tomorrow will be even prettier than today. God is GOOD!

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